Royal Dutch Shell’s chief executive officer Ben van Beurden said that selling and buying in the global LNG market would recover to pre-pandemic levels. His statement suggests that Shell is sticking to its annual LNG Outlook released in February, before the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the outlook, Shell predicts that global LNG consumption will reach 700 million tons in 2040.
Previously, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said that worldwide natural gas demand would decrease by 150 Bcm (4%) to 3,850 Bcm in 2020. Recovery will be slow and driven by LNG demand, especially in China and India, IEA added. The agency expects LNG demand to increase by 21% from 2019 to 585 billion cubic meters in 2025.
The demand and price collapses caused by the health crisis have forced oil and gas companies to cut their spending for this year and delay or even cancel projects. Shell withdrew from the Lake Charles LNG terminal in March due to oversupply. The Anglo-Dutch company is the world’s top LNG market player after acquiring BG Group Plc in 2016.
